Penny vs The Brain Deterioration
by marcelb
Summary: Carmichael Industries is called upon by General Beckman for, what is presented as, a relatively simple search-and-retrieve mission. But nothing is ever easy for Team Bartowski, not when the mission involves the Intersect, unexpected allies and a race against time to save a team member.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Another story in my _Agent Penny_ universe, which started with _The Confidential Information Conundrum_ (that one is in the _Big Bang Theory_ category) and was continued in the _Penny vs. the Interview Disruption_. While not strictly necessary to read those two stories, it is recommended. The story mostly plays out in the Chuck universe, only featuring Penny and on occasion other characters play a minor role (mostly her fiance Leonard Hofstadter).**

 **Here's some things you'll need to know (or maybe have forgotten):**

 **Penny was recruited at a young age and placed in the Agent Development Program (a concept I borrowed from the movie _Agent: Cody Banks_ ). Due to something bad happening to her equally young partner, causing her to distrust the CIA leadership, Penny quit and moved to Pasadena, where she'd eventually meet Leonard and the others. Unfortunately, bad guys came in search of some information, mistakenly thinking Leonard had the information. This forced Penny to use her agent training again. In the final battle she had some help from a certain blonde spy, working for a private security firm.**

 **For those who are not familiar with the Chuck universe, here's what _you'll_ need to know: Chuck Bartowski received an e-mail containing all the government's secret intelligence in the form of subliminal images. Upon opening the e-mail, the information was downloaded into his brain. Both the NSA and CIA sent their best agents (NSA agent Major John Casey and CIA agent Sarah Walker). Their mission changed from retrieval of the secrets to becoming Chuck's handler and protector (often this protection consisted of saying the phrase 'stay in the car, Chuck'; needless to say, Chuck almost never stayed in the car). Chuck's spy name was _Charles Carmichael_ and when they quit the spy game, _Carmichael Industries_ was founded. **

**Alright, on with the story. I do not own the characters of either Big Bang Theory or Chuck, nor do I earn any money with this.**

* * *

Chuck sat down and looked at his team. As usual, his wife was sitting right beside him, both because she was second in command, but also because he trusted her spy experience more than anyone's. On his other side his best friend Morgan had taken his position. Despite the sometimes adolescent behavior he had frequently displayed, he had turned out to be almost invaluable in the day to day business. He had definitely grown up mentally and emotionally, and did his job well and efficiently. Next to Morgan sat his girlfriend Alex. Chuck knew Alex was largely responsible for Morgan's growth, not because she had asked him to change, but because his friend had _wanted_ to change for her, be the boyfriend he felt she deserved.

Next to Sarah sat John Casey. The big man, who frequently called him moron or make fun of his nerdy interests, seemed to be happy to be back with the team, despite his incessant complaining, though that had been in the past. What surprised Chuck the most was the fact Morgan was still alive and in one piece, despite the fact that Alex happened to be Casey's daughter.

Finally he gazed at their latest addition, seated next to Alex. Before Sarah had recruited Penny, almost nobody had ever heard about the agent development program, a secret CIA project to train new agents from a young age. Even the Intersect didn't have anything about this program, though that may be because it dealt with very young potential agents and the less information available, the better. Penny had already proved her worth on the few missions she'd been part of.

His attention shifted to the monitor when it changed and showed the nearly always scowling face of General Diane Beckman. "Good morning team. We have another mission for you that is uniquely suited for you."

Chuck frowned slightly. 'Uniquely suited' sounded like it was Intersect related. And Penny wasn't in on that particular secret, something the general knew. The general's video feed was moved into the upper right corner as the main area was used to display some sort of device. Chuck could tell the general was gauging his reaction, but he received no flash.

"We need to retrieve this device, which was taken from an NSA's laboratory in Chicago about a week ago."

"What does it do, General," Sarah asked.

The general's video feed returned to full screen. "By itself the device is mostly useless, unless you have the proper accompanying equipment. I can not go into detail, but I've been informed time is of the essence."

Chuck nodded thoughtfully. They weren't officially part of the government anymore, and thus no longer privy to many secrets. "Do you know where it is?"

"We know the general area where the device is. A local CIA team is attempting to narrow it down to a more exact location. We have already sent our scientist to their base, accompanied by a very competent field agent. Your team will be working closely with this scientist and field agent, as well as the two CIA agents manning the base. We have prepared a jet to fly you there. Lift off would be in two hours."

"And where would that be, General," Sarah asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Just south of Omaha, Nebraska."

Chuck's eyes flicked over to Penny and then focused intently on the general. "We are going to discuss it internally and get back to you within half an hour."

The general stared back, obviously annoyed. "Mr. Bartowski, your team is uniquely qualified. Your assistance on this mission is of vital importance."

"With all due respect, General," Morgan responded. "We appreciate the fact you are offering missions to our company. We are, however, not part of the government. You are not in a position to make any demands. We will contact you within half an hour."

Chuck looked slack jawed at Morgan as he resolutely disconnected the feed, not giving Beckman any time to even get a complete word out.

"Not bad, Grimes," Casey replied. "Never thought you'd have the balls to cut of the general like that."

Morgan just shrugged. "It's my job. You've all agreed that before accepting any government work, we'd discuss it first. Beckman knows this and she shouldn't have tried to bully you in taking this mission on. Besides, isn't anyone just a tad creeped out by the uniquely suited part?"

Chuck glanced at Penny once more, who observed them with interest, but remained silent. "Yeah, I've thought the same thing, but the project was shut down."

Sarah nodded. "I agree I'm a bit apprehensive but it's just as likely related to another mission from our past."

"It could even be because it's in Nebraska," Penny finally spoke. "I know the area around Omaha well, so that could be a benefit."

Chuck nodded. "Possibly, but Beckman did say we'd be working with two local agents. No, it must be something to do with our past missions."

"Should I sit this one out," Penny asked. "I'm assuming there's some really big secret involved, since you all started talking in code. And I understand, really. It's probably a government type secret."

Chuck shook his head. "No, you are part of the team. Beckman didn't ask you to leave, and I take that as her permission to fill you in on certain things when needed. But we won't do so until it's absolutely clear what this is about."

Penny nodded. "Fair enough. To be honest, it looks like a relatively safe find-and-recover thing, so I'm in if you accept it."

Chuck smiled and glanced at Sarah and Casey. Both gave a single nod. "Well, I guess we can call the general back and tell her we'll be going to Nebraska."

Morgan turned to him. "I suggest we wait a bit longer. I think it's better Beckman understands she doesn't control us. Calling her back so quickly will not help that cause."

* * *

Penny sat down again at the conference table, just having ended her phone call to Leonard to let him know she'd be away for possibly a few days. She was lucky he was so understanding and knew how much it meant to her to feel useful again, doing something positive for the benefits of others.

Not that it made it any easier, for either of them. She knew he was worried about her safety and that he hated they didn't get to spend as much time together as they used to. She hated that she caused him to worry so much, but even more did she hate that there were once again days that they didn't see or at least talk to each other. That hadn't happened since Leonard had been on the North Sea expedition.

But she was happy doing this job and willing to give up on it, just because it made her private life more challenging. She hoped Leonard's worry would ease over time as she went on more missions and returned unscathed. Well, besides some cuts and bruises.

Penny turned to her left as Alex took her place next to her boyfriend. They were a cute couple, even though through the various stories Sarah had related, Penny had gotten the impression Morgan had changed quite a bit. Sarah's descriptions had often reminded her of Howard who, Penny had to admit, had also changed tremendously since he'd started dating Bernadette.

"Alright, let's see how pissed off the general is, shall we?"

Penny grinned at Morgan's statement, then hid it swiftly when the connection was made. In Penny's opinion general Beckman always looked angry, but she had to admit the anger was more pronounced this time.

"I see you've taken your time in calling me back."

"Sorry, General, we had things to discuss," Morgan replied, sounding not sorry at all. "Carmichael Industries will accept this job, assuming it is still on offer."

The general glared through the camera. "It is."

Morgan placed his hands on the table. "Good. We believe this is a three person mission so besides Mr. and Mrs. Bartowski, our new employee Penny will be handling your case."

Penny saw a distinct change in the general's posture. She seemed almost nervous, even if it was for just a second. "Wouldn't Mr. Casey be more appropriate? The three of them..."

"General," Morgan interrupted. "Carmichael Industries determines which operative will be part of which case. Penny has proved her worth and competence more than enough during previous cases she was assigned to. She has excellent marksmanship, almost as good as Mr. Casey's. She is equally competent in hand to hand and every other aspect related to her job."

"Grimes," the general said, clearly seething. "I suggest you remember your place."

"My place is business manager for Carmichael Industries and you can address me as either Mr. Grimes or Morgan. It is my job to facilitate negotiations like this. If you feel we are not up to the task, or make bad decisions regarding your offer, you can always contact other companies like ours."

Penny hid another grin when she noticed the general deflating. "Alright, _Mr._ Grimes. The job is yours, but your team better deliver."

"They always do, General," Morgan said. "The team will rendezvous at the airport within ninety minutes."

"God, that was so hot," Alex said as soon as the connection was closed and as Penny glanced in their direction she could see Alex's hand rubbing over Morgans leg. "Relax, Dad," Alex responded to John's warning grunt. "I'm not going to jump him right here."

* * *

"That was pretty impressive how Morgan handled the general," Sarah said to Chuck, wrapping her arms around him to pull him close for a hug and kiss.

Chuck nodded with a proud grin. "Yeah, Beckman looked like she was going to murder him. But I think he was right to put her in her place like that. I mean, the first few missions she offered we gave in a bit easily."

Sarah smiled, her fingers going through his curly hairs. "Personally I wouldn't mind if Morgan handled future intakes in a similar manner." She leaned her head against his shoulder and together they simply stood like that for a few minutes. "What are we going to tell Penny if this does turn out to be Intersect related."

Chuck shrugged. "However much we need to tell her. Like I said before, she is part of our team now and she seems to work out."

Sarah hummed her agreement. "I like having her on the team. We get along great and she is a very competent agent."

"I'm really not too worried about having her in on the secret. The thought of this mission in anyway related to the Intersect worries me a lot more. We were told the project was terminated, and would no longer be pursued. This would indicate they lied to us."

Sarah pulled back slightly. "It wouldn't be the first time. Penny has had her fair share of run-ins with CIA leadership, and distrusts pretty much anyone high up the command chain."

Chuck sighed. "I better finish up packing."

Sarah chuckled. "You _still_ over pack."

He laughed briefly. "Yeah, well, it saved our asses on multiple occasions, so I'm not going to apologize for it or change my packing habits."

Sarah moved back toward the door and observed her husband as he packed one gadget after the other, and more clothes than even a normal woman would take on a weekend away. Agents generally travel light, the less you carry, the easier it is to quickly disappear when needed. But Chuck wasn't an agent, at least not in the classical sense, even though he'd done things that even a seasoned agent would at the very least hesitate to do.

It was just who he was, friendly and always ready to do whatever was needed to save innocent people, his resolve only stronger when his friends or family were involved. He'd been like that from the day she met him, when he was just thrust into her spy world. There weren't many men who, without any training whatsoever, would volunteer to help disarm a bomb, mere minutes after finding out his date was actually a spy sent to retrieve the stolen information from him.

The first year or so, he kept saying he wasn't anything special, and she always wanted to smack him over the head for downplaying his courage and heroism. It had taken quite a while until he began feeling worthy of being in the spy world, being with her. And still he regularly played of his contribution to a successful mission as just luck, or that it wouldn't have worked without everyone else's hard work.

* * *

"Why isn't anyone here to pick us up?" Chuck looked at Sarah and Penny.

Sarah shrugged in response. "The intel Beckman provided us with tells us this is a small team, and the scientist, along with the field agent protecting him, should have arrived about ten minutes ago. They probably just didn't have anyone to spare."

Chuck nodded thoughtfully. "I guess. Well, at least they left us the address and the key to a car."

Sarah nodded. "True. We also need to check in at the hotel. We should do that first, I think. Huh."

Chuck turned to his wife at the confused sound following her sentence. "What's wrong?"

"There's two keys in the envelope they left for us."

Chuck frowned. "Just how large do they think our team is?" His frown deepened when they reached the designated parking space and noticed there weren't two cars, but just one along with a fast looking motorcycle.

"Cool bike," Penny exclaimed as she rushed forward. "My dad always wanted to buy one like this, and I actually was hoping he would."

Chuck smiled at the obvious joy on Penny's features as she inspected the bike closely. "I guess he never did?"

Penny shook her head. "No, he changed his mind after I nearly crashed the dirt bike he did own."

Chuck glanced at Sarah again, who was smiling at Penny's admiration for the two-wheeled vehicle, but turned to him with a small nod. "Why don't you take the bike, and Sarah and I will take the car."

Penny beamed at them. "Really? Alright! Where are we staying?"

"Fairfield Inn and Suites in Papillion," Sarah read off of the note.

"I know where that is," Penny said, nodding, her hands going over the handlebars. "Where do we need to go after that?"

"Pappilion Parks and Recreation offices," Sarah replied after glancing at the note again.

Penny nodded. "Could you guys check in my bags for me? I wanna take this puppy for a short spin, if you don't mind."

Chuck glanced at Sarah, not sure if this was such a good idea. Sarah shrugged slightly at him, telling him she didn't see anything wrong with it. "Alright, but wear your comms so you can easily reach us. And be at the second location in an hour, alright?"

Penny rolled her eyes. "Chuck, relax. I'm a trained agent and I'm not going to do anything stupid. See you guys in an hour!"

Chuck's mouth was hanging open slightly as Penny had simply snatched the keys from Sarah and peeled out of the parking lot within three seconds.

* * *

"Something's up, guys," Penny whispered into the comms. "The lock's been forced."

" _Copy that,_ " Sarah's voice came back. " _We're still two minutes out._ "

Penny peeked around the corner, trying to locate possible bad guys. "I'm not seeing anyone, so I assume they entered the base." She paused, checking the tranq gun in her hand. "I'll go in, but you'd better be here in two minutes to back me up."

" _We'll be there,_ " Sarah replied. " _Remember, we have friendlies inside._ "

Penny silently but quickly made her way to the end of corridor, peaking around the next corner. "Affirmative," she whispered, remembering there should be three trained field agents and a scientist. "I'm using tranqs."

A light chuckle came over the comms. " _My husband got to you too, huh?_ "

"Yeah," Penny whispered back, approaching the staircase. She opened the door, checking left and right behind the door quickly. "Staircase secure. Going down." Penny was about to take the first step when she noticed the security camera. She knew she was still out its field of view. "There's a camera here."

" _I could probably disable it and the others, but that'll get noticed too,_ " Chuck responded. " _Safest bet is to try avoid being seen by being fast and sneaky._ "

"Right," Penny said, eyeing the camera angle. No way in hell was she going to escape being picked up by it for anything less than two seconds. And there was no telling if there was another camera at the level below her. Just as she was about to go for it, she heard a gun shot. "Gun shot, couple of levels below me," she reported over the comms.

" _That's probably good for us. Unlikely someone is watching the security cameras._ "

Penny nodded as she swiftly descended the stairs. "On my way." As she reached the lowest level, she could hear the telltale signs of hand to hand combat. She paused by the door and pushed it open a crack. Nobody seemed to be close to the door, and she eased it open just far enough for her to squeeze through. She heard another gunshot from up ahead, followed by what sounded as someone kicking another person. "Altercation in progress," Penny reported. "No visual, yet."

Penny paused again at the end of the corridor to peek around the corner. Her eyes quickly flitted over the scene, assessing the combat area and players. The room was fairly large, and she could see seven people. Given that it appeared the fight was five to two, Penny quickly picked a target among the five apparent assailants and fired.

" _Entering the building now_ ," Sarah reported.

Penny turned around quickly, having heard someone approaching but had assumed it was Sarah. Her turn was just a bit too late and she found herself at the receiving end of a vicious punch. She had just enough time to move along with the punch, minimizing the force and rolled through it. Unfortunately she lost the tranq gun in the process.

She blocked the next punch and flipped backwards, her left foot kicking out just in time to hit the new assailant in the temple. She managed to roll through and have her feet on the ground, still crouched down low. She struck out with her fist to another assailant coming at her from the side, hitting him on the knee.

She raised herself up and delivered a roundhouse kick to the one that had attacked her first, then rolled past him to retrieve her tranq gun. She shot both assailants from her crouched down position before standing up and taking aim at another person approaching from the left. Penny was about to squeeze the trigger until she locked eyes with her target. "Mom?" Penny stared unbelievingly at her own mother, not quite expecting this situation.

* * *

 **A/N2: hope you guys like the story so far. I'm going to try and divide the fight scenes, but obviously I needed to have Penny inside the base first :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: sorry for the long delay. Haven't had a lot of time to work on my stories, which is a shame because for both stories I was finalizing their respective chapter. Anyway, here's chapter two, picking up right where we left off in chapter 1.**

* * *

"Uh, hi, sweetie. Glad you could make it."

Penny raised her eyebrows. "Are you kidding me?" She fired to her mom's right as an assailant approached. "I find you in a secret CIA base fighting bad guys and those are your first words?"

"Would you feel better if I'd started with 'I can explain this'?"

Penny didn't flinch when her mom shot the guy behind her who went down with a howl of pain. "Well, yeah. It's not every day you learn your own mother is a CIA agent." Penny fired a shot at the woman approaching from her mother's left.

"Why are your targets not bleeding?"

Penny raised her gun slightly. "Tranq darts. My employer isn't a big fan of lethal solutions."

Her mom smiled as she punched another woman approaching from partly behind Penny. "Ah, yes, you're in the private business now."

Penny raised her eyebrows again. "You know about that? Wait, did you know about summer camp?"

She let out a light chuckle. "Know about it? I requested they'd recruit you for the program."

"Why," Penny asked.

Susan shrugged. "You had shown quick reflexes and you almost instinctively knew how to prevent being hurt when you fell. And you were very observant." She shrugged again. "Seemed like a perfect candidate to me."

Penny nodded and turned around to see Sarah and Chuck entering the room cautiously. "Everything under control. I just found out my mom's a CIA agent."

Chuck grinned. "Been there, done that. I found out both my mom _and_ dad were agents."

Penny rolled her eyes, but couldn't prevent the smile forming. "Fine, you win." Her smile faltered when she heard her father's voice.

"Hey, Slugger."

Chuck's grin widened. "I'd say we're even."

"Everything clear?"

Penny turned her gaze toward another female agent on the other side of the room, weapon at the low ready position. The agent, about her parents age, seemed to be on their side, but her whole demeanor screamed 'dangerous,' and Penny was instantly on guard.

"Everything clear, agent Frost," Susan confirmed.

Penny's eyes widened. Frost was a code name well known by every CIA agent, even the ones who were in the agent development program. Frost and years later, during Penny's final year of training, Ice were two of the best agents, setting record after record in almost every area of their training.

"Hi, mom," Chuck replied, and Penny glanced at him. Frost was her boss's mother? Frost had married? The moniker Frost had been assigned because the agent in question had been cold, almost emotionless. The same had been true for Ice and Penny wondered if that agent had also found someone.

"Chuck. I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately."

"Are you the reason we were asked to come here?"

"Partially," agent Frost replied. "And partially because you have first hand experience with the technology."

"Aw, not _that_ again," Chuck replied, sounding resigned. "I thought this whole thing was done and over with, never to be looked into again. Who decided to reopen this?"

"That would be me, little brother."

Penny looked at the tall brunette, who looked quite a lot like Chuck. She shifted her focus back to her own mother, narrowing her eyes. "I swear if Bridget walks in next, I'm gonna tranq her!"

"Well, luckily your sister's out on a solo mission right now."

Penny's eyes went wide. "What the hell?!"

Susan began to laugh. "Just kidding! You're the only child of ours that's in the business."

#

Sarah's relationship with her parents wasn't exactly perfect, but she couldn't imagine how much worse it would be if she'd found out her parents had been spies. She remembered what Chuck had gone through after first learning about his father's involvement and right after his father was killed, Chuck found his mother had been a spy for a very long time as well.

Today, Penny had found both her parents were in fact also CIA agents, had even been instrumental in their daughter's recruitment into the agent development program at the age of ten. That's quite a shock, and she fully understood Penny's need to confront her parents in private. Just as Chuck was confronting his mother and sister in the second interrogation room.

Sarah shook her head sadly. She had never expected Ellie to volunteer to be part of the CIA or NSA, whichever of the two agencies her sister in law was actually assigned to. Not after being so insistent that Chuck quit being a spy after she'd found out her brother had been an asset-turned-agent. Apparently being involved in something like this was in their blood. Even after telling her brother to end his spy career, she'd been investigating the Intersect project, using the information left to her by her own father, the inventor of the Intersect. Chuck and Ellie had lied to each other for several months, until they finally talked it out.

And all Sarah had had to deal with was a divorce and a father who was a con-man and used her to run several cons. It had been all fun and games initially for Sarah, just amazing adventures with her dad. And then he'd been sent to jail. While retrieving the money cache they had hidden in the woods, she'd been confronted by Langston Graham, CIA director. He'd more or less forced her to join the CIA, promising he'd keep her father safe from whoever he'd been trying to scam.

Sarah frowned slightly at the thought. Their scams during that period had not been on any scale that that would've been an issue. And there were definitely no major players involved. Her father might have been parenting in a wrong way, Sarah knew almost hundred percent certain he'd been careful to not put her in any real danger. "Oh my God," Sarah said out loud to the empty room she was in. Langston had lied to her, Sarah suddenly realized. He'd wanted her to join the CIA, that had never been a secret, but Sarah now began to strongly suspect her father's incarceration had been more than just a convenient circumstance.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door to the interrogation room, where her husband and both his mother and sister had probably been involved in a shouting match, was opened with force and slammed against the wall. Chuck came out first, visibly hurt and frustrated by the fact his sister seemed to have taken to the spy business as well.

"Chuck," Ellie said, following Chuck. "I'm not in any danger! I stay in the lab mostly. Besides, I followed basic training. I can..." Ellie stopped mid sentence.

Chuck turned. "You can what, Ellie? Kick ass? You shouldn't be part of any of this!"

Sarah placed her hand on Chuck's shoulder. "Sweetie, calm down," she said.

"Calm down?!" Chuck turned to her. "My whole God damn family is in this spy business!" He sighed and looked back at Ellie. "I just want you to be safe."

Ellie closed the distance, smiling a sad smile. "I _am_ safe, little brother. The training is mandatory for everyone. And mom's been giving me extra training. I'm nowhere near as good as her or Sarah, or even you, but I really don't get out of the lab all that often." She chuckled. "Face it, Chuck, our family is destined to do this. We're just wired that way, I think."

"Chuck," Mary said, approaching them. "You know I'll protect Ellie with my life. And I admit," she added, before Chuck had a chance to object, "I initially wasn't exactly happy with either of your decision to pursue this career. But I'm proud of both of my children. We're Bartowskis, this is what we do."

Chuck sighed again, then smiled wryly. "I guess I can't really change anything, can I?"

#

"Alright," Ellie started, looking at Penny and her parents intensely. "The information you will receive in a moment is top secret and can not be discussed anywhere outside of the base."

Chuck watched with some amazement at his sister's ease with which she was able to lay down the law. Then again, even Casey had once admitted Ellie scared him sometimes.

"Frankly," Ellie continued, "if you didn't need to know for your mission, you wouldn't even be part of this briefing."

"We'll keep the secret," Susan, Penny's mom, said. "We know the drill, you can trust us."

"Right," Ellie said, smiling slightly. "Okay, I'll spare you the most boring and non-essential details and get right to it." She hit a button and the monitors around the base filled up with diagrams and information that was all to familiar to Chuck. "Project Intersect," Ellie said. "Pioneered by Orion, Steven Bartowski."

"Jesus," Penny said, turning to Chuck. "I was already impressed with learning Frost was your mother, but your dad's Orion?"

"You've heard about them," Chuck asked surprised.

Penny nodded. "Yeah. I mean, Frost's a legend big enough that even in the agent development program we've learned about her impressive training records. Records that remained in place for nearly two decades until someone called Ice came around. And Orion's a legend for his technological knowledge and inventions."

"Ice just got lucky a couple of times," Mary said. "There wasn't such a big difference."

"Perhaps, but I still broke most of your records," Sarah said sweetly.

"Wait," Penny said, turning to Sarah. "You're Ice?"

Sarah nodded. "I was. A long time ago."

"Excuse me," Ellie said, glancing around. "Can we get back to the briefing now?" She paused a few seconds. "The Intersect was originally intended as a learning tool, implanting the information into a person's brain directly. The government agencies felt it would be beneficial if agents were to able to recall any intelligence at once while out in the field, although I'm skipping over another use they had for it."

Chuck nodded, glancing at his mother for a moment.

"However, not everyone is suitable to handle the strain of having this information puts on the brain. And that is assuming the Intersect was built properly. The release of information is triggered by anything the host sees or hears, resulting in 'flashing' on the subject. This process of recalling the subliminal information stored is what is the most dangerous part and only a few people can handle it."

"You said all the agencies' intelligence were collected into this Intersect?" Wyatt looked at Ellie waiting for confirmation. "Let me guess, you lost the Intersect."

Ellie nodded. "Yes, several years ago the Intersect program was stolen. The agent who'd stolen it sent it to a civilian." Chuck gave a small nod at Ellie's quick glance at him. "The civilian activated the program, not knowing he would have all the government secret implanted into his brain." She pointed at Chuck. "Luckily Chuck was able to handle it."

"A few years after the event," Ellie continued. "a defective Intersect was loaded into a different subject, an agent this time, who was captured by a bad guy. He forced the agent to flash several times, wiping a big part of the agent's memory."

Chuck saw Penny's reaction, how she glanced at Sarah. Sarah had told Penny she had lost her memory less than two years ago and that it had taken quite a while for it to return.

"The agent recovered most memories, however the Intersect is still inside the agent's brain."

Chuck tightened his hand around Sarah's. They had believed the Intersect had been wiped out by Quinn, but apparently that was not the case.

"But I haven't flashed since," Sarah said, effectively letting everyone know she was the other agent.

Ellie looked compassionately at Sarah and Chuck knew immediately more bad news was on its way, especially as Ellie's voice softened as well. "No, the triggering mechanism was destroyed. You can't access the information, but it is still there and it's destroying your brain." She cleared her throat, then pressed a button. "This is an important component of a device that will allow me to remove the Intersect completely. It was stolen three days ago and was tracked to this area."

#

Penny sat down next to her boss's sister, observing their respective mothers engage in a friendly sparring match. It still felt weird knowing her parents had been spies for longer than she herself had been alive.

"I will never understand how you field agents can carry on a conversation while simultaneously engaged in a full-on fight."

Penny turned to Ellie, smiling. "It's not like we do that during an actual fight. It's just kinda expected during a sparring match, kinda like testing your ability to think while fighting. Most of the moves are instinctual."

"Not for me," Ellie said, shaking her head. "So, how are you holding up, finding out about your parents?"

Penny shrugged, her eyes already back on the sparring match. "Okay, I guess. It was just a big shock, finding out my parents were spies." She winced slightly at the force of the kick her mom had just received.

Ellie chuckled. "Yeah, same here. I first found out Chuck had been spying for over a year. Then my dad, who'd left us when I was fourteen, turned out to be a spy as well. He'd felt he'd needed to leave to protect us. He was just back in our lives when he was killed. I saw it happen." She sighed. "That's when I forced Chuck to give up spying."

Penny glanced to Ellie. "Did he?"

Ellie smiled. "He made it look like he did, but, no, of course he didn't. I shouldn't have even demanded he'd quit doing what he was apparently born to do. Eventually, Chuck found mom, or rather she returned. That's when Chuck told me mom was a spy, still omitting that he was."

Penny nodded and bit her lip. After a few seconds she turned to Ellie again. "Can I ask why you decided to go into the spy business? You seemed so against it, even forcing Chuck to stop spying."

Ellie nodded. "I know. The thing is, even during the time I thought Chuck wasn't spying, I was doing things behind his back, things I knew had to do with the spy world. Nothing like a field agent, but definitely an analyst. There was just something that drew me in that direction, I guess. It's just... I want to feel like I help people, you know? That's part of why I wanted to become a doctor. It was a way to help people. Dad had left me his research for the Intersect project, and I just dove right in. At first, because I was intrigued by his attempt to have someone gain knowledge without having to learn, but gradually I began to realize he'd designed it for spies."

Penny nodded. "How does your husband feel about this?"

"He's supportive, but I think he's mostly okay with it. I guess it helps that he knows I'm usually cooped up in the lab. When I do need to get out, it's nearly always with mom."

Penny nodded again. "My fiancee is worried about my safety. He's supportive, but I know he worries about it a lot." She sighed. "That's the hard part, you know? Knowing that someone you love is worried because of the choice you made."

#

Despite Chuck's competence in hand to hand combat, Sarah still did everything she could to prevent her husband from being part of one. Tonight was no different. His idea of breaking into the secured facility by himself so he could tap into their network, had been nixed by her immediately. He'd either take her as backup, or it wasn't going to happen at all. And right now, as she waited in her concealed spot for the security detail they knew was on the way, she was glad he'd seen reason.

Sarah liked the fact there was only one entrance to the room they were in. From the entrance, it was impossible to see Chuck, which was also a bonus in her book. It gave her the option to run from the room to draw the security people away from him, though that would be a last resort. She didn't like the idea of leaving Chuck behind without her being near, especially since there was no guarantee everyone would follow her.

Sarah tilted her head slightly and listened closely. She counted four sets of footsteps. She glanced back to where she knew Chuck was working his magic, though she couldn't actually see him right now. She focused her attention on the approaching group, readying herself. The first man through the door had his weapon at the ready and stopped right in front of her, scanning the area. The man was large, reminding her of Colt. She was off to his left side and he hadn't spotted her yet. Two other men and a women joined him, standing slightly behind and to either side of him.

"Alright, we know you're in here," the apparent leader said, his voice surprisingly soft, completely at odds with his appearance.

Sarah noticed he was the only one with his weapon at the ready, and she started her attack with him, kicking the gun out of his hand in one quick motion. It was immediately clear this bunch were not highly trained, as they all stared disbelievingly at what had just happened. Sarah took advantage of that and drove her fist into the abdomen of the man just behind her, following it up with a kick to the back of the knee of the leader.

He was quite a big man, and he didn't go down completely. Before he could stand back up, Sarah kicked him in the side of the head. His head snapped to the side and he wobbled briefly before falling down. Sarah immediately turned around and grabbed the woman, wrapping her arm around the woman's neck in a choke hold. Sarah drove the elbow of her other arm into the face of the man standing right next to her female captive, who was struggling to free herself, only succeeding in making it harder for her to breath.

From the corner of her eye, Sarah saw the fourth man approaching and she quickly turned around, dragging the other woman with her. The man's intention had clearly been to hit Sarah hard, but instead of hitting her, his fist plowed into the other woman's face. Sarah let the woman fall to the floor, ignoring the blood that poured from the woman's face.

"Val!"

Sarah titled her head slightly as the man immediately rushed to the poor woman, obvious concern for her. It seemed like the two were more than just colleagues, and Sarah felt a little sorry for having used this woman as a shield, even if it hadn't been her intention at all. The concerned look on the man's face turned into a murderous one as he turned to Sarah. "Sorry," she said to him and drove her fist into his face, causing him to fall right beside - what Sarah assumed to be - his lover.

By this time, the leader was back up to his feet, and Sarah took a defensive stance, ready to counter whatever was coming next. A few seconds later, she relaxed as the man's eyes first widened in surprise before he fell down, a tranq dart sticking into the back of his neck.

"Got everything," Chuck said, lifting his wrist to which the small but powerful computer his father had built was strapped. "You done playing," he asked, smirking.

Sarah walked over to him and kissed him deeply. "With them, yes." She answered his question. "Come on," she added, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the exit.

* * *

 **A/N2: For by BBT fans who are not well acquainted with Chuck'verse: When Sarah compares one of security people to Colt: Mr. Colt was a villain played by Michael Clarke Duncan. If I remember correctly Yvonne Strahovski (who portrayed Sarah) loved her fight scene with him.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here it is, the third chapter, a.k.a. the one with first fight scene I wrote for this story. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything related to this story, except for the plot.**

* * *

Chuck frowned as he went over the data they had collected the night before. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something seemed off. The more information he read, the stronger that feeling became. He smiled when he felt Sarah press herself against his back, her hands gliding from his shoulders down his chest. He felt her lips on his neck and then on his shoulders and his attention slowly moved away from the intel to his gorgeous, sexy wife.

"Good morning Chuck."

Chuck smile widened. He recognized the tone in her voice, knew what she wanted. Something that wasn't all that unappealing to him.

"We're not scheduled to be at the base until eleven," Sarah said, sounding very casual, but Chuck knew his wife. "Why are you not in bed with me?"

Chuck turned his head around. "I couldn't sleep anymore. And while I love watching you sleep, it kinda got creepy after a while, so I figured I'd get a head start on the intel." He felt proud of himself for even getting through that in a mostly normal tone of voice. The vision of his wife wearing one of his geeky shirts was a big turn-on for him, especially as he could now see her underwear still lying next to the bed where he'd dumped it last night, telling him she wasn't wearing anything else.

"Chuck, you know you can wake me up when you're awake, right?"

Chuck raised an eyebrow. "Well, I didn't think you'd be all that happy about me waking you up at six to go over the intel we stole last night."

"No, I wouldn't have liked that. But you could've woken me for something else," she said, punctuating her statement with another kiss on his shoulder.

Chuck grinned as he stood up. "Really? You'd have enjoyed an early morning gaming session?" He yelped when Sarah forcibly pulled him and then pushed him to fall down on the bed. Only a fraction of second later, the lone button that had held his shirt closed around his wife's body, shot against the wall, just above the headboard.

When Sarah jumped on top of him, he place his hands against her shoulders, preventing her from attacking his lip, a frown on his face. "Honey, is everything alright?"

"Why are you fighting me," she asked, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Sarah, I'm not fighting you, I'm just wondering if everything's okay."

"Why wouldn't it be?" She started to smile. "I'm here with my handsome husband, who just so happens to be the sweetest, most caring man in the world."

Chuck's frown deepened. "Yeah, but we're having a lot of sex lately..."

Sarah glared. "Are you complaining about the amount of sex we're having?"

"No! No, no, no! I'm just worried something's wrong and you just want to have lots of sex so I won't worry. We're gonna find the component and Elly will make you all better, don't worry about that, please."

Sarah shook her head. "I'm not worried about that," she answered, all smiles again. "You know why?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Because you said so, and I trust you." She leaned forward, Chuck no longer exerting much force to keep her back. "Now, make love to me, baby," she said, just before kissing him.

* * *

Penny smiled as she awoke to smell of pancakes and coffee. She was glad she'd accepted her parent's offer to stay in her old room. Mom's pancakes were simply the best in the entire world, and Penny rushed through her morning rituals, before making her way downstairs at the, for her at least, crack of dawn. Well, it _was_ only seven thirty, which for her still counted as the middle of the night.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Susan greeted her. "Did you sleep well?"

"Mmm-hmm," she hummed, with a confirming nod, as she poured herself a mug full of coffee, inhaling the scent, before taking a small sip.

"Good," Susan replied. "I'm almost done with the pancakes."

"It smells delicious," Penny replied, after taking another sip of coffee.

Susan grinned. "I see you still need coffee before you can say anything?"

Penny just shrugged, then also grinned. "Doesn't take a spy to figure that one out, does it?" Penny caught the frown on her mother's face, even if she was facing mostly away from her. "Sorry," she apologized; they'd already hashed it all out yesterday, and no matter how angry and hurt Penny was, nothing would change it. "So," she said, deciding to head off another argument. "What's on the agenda today?"

Susan smiled. "Well, after breakfast, I figured we'd could take an hour or so to see how Buttercup is doing..."

Penny immediately smiled at the mention of her favorite horse. "I'm definitely up for that!"

"And then the two of us could head for the base."

Penny frowned. "It's only fifteen miles, doesn't really take us much more than half an hour."

"Seventeen and a half, " Susan agreed with a nod. "But I figured we'd run instead of drive."

Penny groaned. "Ugh, Mom! It's seventeen miles!"

Susan nodded again, a wide grin. "Don't forget the half. But I'll make it easy on you and allow the trip to take an hour and a half."

Penny grinned. "Are you sure the slower pace is not for your benefit?"

Susan raised an eyebrow. "I'll have you know I've ran to the base every day for the past decade and can make the trip in just a little over an hour."

"Define 'little'," Penny said with a smile.

"One-oh-seven," Susan said. "Think you can make that?"

Penny grinned. "We'll just have to see, won't we?" Her mood had definitely improved, and she was looking forward to running with her mother. "Do you run, Daddy," Penny asked, not turning around.

"Damn," her father muttered. "What gave me away?"

"Floor board and the fact Mom can't keep her eyes off of you," Penny said casually, finally turning in his direction as he took his place at the kitchen table. "So, do you run with mom?"

"Not very often," he admitted. "She's too competitive for my taste."

"What he means is," Susan said in a stage whisper, "he hates losing."

Penny grinned. "Well, I hope you don't mind losing."

* * *

Sarah looked down the road in front of the base, seeing Penny running in her direction. A little further behind, Sarah could see another person running, and Sarah was willing to bet it was one of Penny's parents. Sarah waited by the entrance until Penny tagged the wall and immediately followed it up by hitting a button on her smart phone, which she'd apparently retrieved from its storage place while she was still running.

It took nearly a minute before the second person, which Sarah had recognized as Penny's mother half a minute ago, joined them.

"What took you so long," Penny asked, an innocent smile on her face, her breathing already back under control. "I thought you did this almost daily."

Susan nodded, her breathing a bit labored. "I do," she said, looking at her phone. "This is actually my personal best," she said, frowning slightly at the realization. "One oh five and thirty three seconds."

Penny nodded. "Mine was one oh four and thirty one seconds. Daddy's gonna love this."

Sarah chuckled and shook her head. "Let me guess, he doesn't like to run with you," she asked, addressing Susan.

"He says I'm too competitive."

Sarah grinned. "Well, now I know where Penny's got her competitive streak from."

Penny shrugged. "I guess I am. Haven't heard you complain about it, though."

Sarah shook her head. "I like having someone around who keeps me on my toes." She opened the door. "The men are already here," Sarah said, gesturing to the two parked cars. She lead the two women down to the base, where both of them excused themselves to get cleaned up. Sarah immediately went over the Chuck, wrapping her arms around his torso from behind. She kissed the side of his neck, then whispered in his ear, "I missed you."

Chuck looked at her with a grin. "Well, we've been separated for at least half an hour," he answered.

"That's twenty nine minutes too long," Sarah said. She then took her place next to him. "So, found anything interesting yet?"

"Maybe," Chuck said, turning his attention back to the intel they'd obtained last night. "Quite a bit of transfers, both monetary as well as physical, to this company here," Chuck said, pointing at the screen. "But nothing that screams 'bad-guys-are-us' at me. It's just interesting that most of it happened in the last few weeks."

"I actually know the company," Wyatt interjected, sitting opposite and to the right of Sarah. "I mean, in a farmer capacity. They've provided several parts for years for all the farming equipment."

"But it could be a front," Sarah asked.

"Possibly," Wyatt said. "I haven't ever noticed anything wrong, but I can't be certain they're not just keeping up appearances."

Sarah nodded, but turned back to Chuck when she sensed him tensing up. "Something wrong, Chuck?"

He turned his laptop slightly toward her, pointing at the screen. "Sarah, am I seeing a ghost?"

Sarah looked at the screen, specifically at the section of a photo he'd enlarged. "What the hell?"

* * *

Chuck paced back an forth in the room. "Are we missing something, Sarah," he asked, not pausing to even look at her, and pretty much ignoring everyone else present. This couldn't be true. The man had died in an explosion, confirmed by both the CIA and the NSA. "Do you think the CIA and NSA lied to us?"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Sarah responded. "But it's not likely they would have lied about this."

Chuck looked at her questioningly, asking for an elaboration.

Sarah grabbed his arm. "First, sit down, you're making everyone dizzy."

Chuck glanced around the room, a sheepish smile on his face, then sat down as ordered.

"Chuck," Sarah started, then paused for a second or two. "When it was decided to upload the new Intersect into capable agents, Casey'd been given the order to terminate you."

Chuck's head whipped back to Sarah. "What?!" His single word question was echoed by both his mother and sister.

Sarah sighed. "I wasn't told then," she said, "and I certainly didn't agree with their order, but I understand their reasoning. The governments deepest, darkest secrets were inside a civilian."

Chuck slumped back in his seat. "Yeah, I get it was dangerous. Still can't believe killing me was their first thought."

"Casey did ask them to find another exit strategy, but the order was final, he said."

Chuck nodded. Casey was a soldier through and through. Him even asking for another exit strategy was perilously close to not following orders.

"The point is," Sarah continued, "they had no reason to lie about the explosion, because it meant you had to remain alive."

Chuck nodded again. "Yeah, they would've been better off not telling you about the explosion." He sighed. "So, how come Mr. Graham is still alive and well?"

"He probably planned it," his mother said. "I've known the man for a long time, and he was one conniving son of a bitch. I never really trusted him."

"Wait a second," Chuck said, shooting forward in his chair again. He pressed the button that would initiate a conference call with General Beckman.

"Mr. Bartowski," the general greeted him with her usual stern expression.

"General, who's idea was it to terminate me when you decided to go ahead with the rebuilt Intersect?"

The general looked slightly upset, then turned towards Sarah. "Agent Walker, why did you..."

"It's Mrs. Bartowski, now, General," Sarah responded. "And I told him because of this." She punched a key on Chuck's laptop and the image was shown on the large screen.

"Son of a—" The general broke of her curse. "Let me tell you I did not know he escaped, but to answer the question, yes, Director Graham came up with the course of action."

"I think there's something in my Intersect, the original one," Chuck said. "Something he didn't want known."

"Perhaps," the general said. "How does this tie in with your current mission?"

"He's working for a company that has received both funding and high tech equipment from the company we were investigating," Chuck explained. He frowned. "And look what was sold as well."

* * *

Penny slowly drove past the CIA base after picking up some stuff from the hotel. She'd just seen someone duck into the tree line of the wooded area surrounding the base. Of course, it could be anyone, but this person was wearing a tight, dark outfit and seemed to have been eying the building. Penny didn't trust this at all, and decided she'd just drive around the block and stop somewhere there, so she could surprise their visitor.

A couple minutes later she stopped the car and got out. She'd gone as far as she thought was safe, she'd have to go on foot from this point on. Silently she ducked into the woods and made her way to where she'd last seen the person, which she believed to be a woman. It took about five more minutes until she closed in on her target, due to Penny's extreme caution to not make a sound.

Penny narrowed her eyes and remained absolutely still. She was certain she'd heard movement just up ahead, slightly to the right. There it was again, the light brush against a leaf, followed by a soft footfall. And again, but this time Penny could actually see the figure. Just by posture she could tell that person was looking for her, and Penny readied herself mentally for a fight, yet remained still, hoping the person wouldn't see her.

It took nearly a minute for the figure to be almost on top of her, and Penny could now see the figure was indeed female. The woman was scanning her surroundings quickly and efficiently, and Penny realized this woman was a professional. If she was lucky, the woman wouldn't see Penny and pass her by, allowing for Penny to attack the woman from behind.

Penny's hope was dashed mere seconds later when the woman looked directly at her. Penny blocked the first attack and spun around, darting toward an area that provided a little more room for the confrontation. She ducked to the side just in time to prevent being hit by the considerably taller woman's outstretched arm. Penny crouched down and spun around, kicking out her right leg to trip her assailant, who fell with only a very soft grunt, before getting up without so much as a pause.

"Well, little girl," the woman said. "You're not bad, but trust me, you're no match for me."

Penny refrained from rolling her eyes at the arrogance. It wasn't the first time she was being underestimated by an opponent, and it probably wasn't going to be the last time. Instead of verbally responding, Penny quickly placed her attack, a kick against the woman's left knee, followed by a punch to her side, just above the hip. Silently she cursed herself when she realized she'd left herself vulnerable to a counter attack, which came quickly in the form of a fist to the side of Penny's face.

Without so much as a grunt, Penny moved slightly with the punch and rolled on and away from the woman, further toward the center of the relatively open area. Penny kicked behind her and hit the woman in her gut, but the woman grabbed her ankle. Supporting herself on her hands, Penny kicked with her other foot, again hitting the other woman's left knee, this time more from the front.

Even though the woman didn't utter a sound at the impact, she did loosen her grip on Penny's ankle, and Penny managed to break the woman's hold. Penny rolled forward and spun around, facing her opponent. After dodging the punch, Penny grabbed the woman's wrist, spun herself around and rammed her elbow hard into the woman's midsection. She immediately followed that up by grabbing the woman's arm with both hands, bending over slightly and flipping her opponent over her body, who landed hard on the floor, the air audibly escaping from her lungs.

Penny held on to the wrist, pulling the arm up, and placed her foot on the assailant's shoulder. The woman's ski mask only showed the eyes and Penny could see there was no fear in the woman's eyes. This made her realize the woman was still having a trick up her sleeve. Whether it was luck or instinct that made Penny glance at the woman's other arm, Penny wasn't sure, but she quickly spun away, slightly twisting the woman's wrist in the process. She dove to her left just in time to not be hit by the throwing knife that came her way.

Penny quickly got up, but wasn't quick enough to avoid being hit in the mouth. She staggered back one step but found her balance almost immediately, at which point she got kicked in the gut, causing her to double over slightly. Another fist ended up in her face just below her left eye and Penny once again staggered, this time to the side. When she turned back she found herself facing the business end of a small handgun.

"Told you you were no match for me."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'm so sorry for leaving you all hanging for well over a year. More over, I feel sorry for Penny, considering where I left things. I've been having a really hard time with this chapter, so much so that this is (and I'm not exaggerating here) the twelfth version of this chapter. As you can understand, this has lead to at least six months of me completely ignoring this story. Recently I decided to finish this chapter before ever writing a word for the next chapter of any of my other running stories. I may or may not have written one chapter of a completely new story, but I kept my promise :D.**

* * *

Sarah glanced at the clock once more. It was only a ten minute drive to the hotel. It was now almost fifty minutes since Penny had gone to pick something up from the hotel. Too long. There was virtually no traffic at this time of day, so it wasn't likely that she was simply stuck in traffic.

She turned her attention to Susan and Wyatt, as both stood up and checked their weapons quickly before holstering them again. She understood completely, of course; she herself was always worried if Chuck was out of her sight and taking longer than usual to get back. Just like Chuck worried about her. It wasn't lack of trust in the other person's ability; everyone in the spy world realized there would always be someone better than you were.

"She should've been back twenty minutes ago," Susan said to her and Chuck. "Hell, the way she drives, I'd expected her back half an hour ago. Something's keeping her."

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." Before Penny's parents had even made a single step, an alarm light began blinking, indicating someone had tripped one of the wires outside the main room. Sarah quickly retrieved her gun and pointed it toward the entry door, a move copied by Chuck's mom - who'd stepped in front of Ellie - and Wyatt and Susan. A few seconds later the door burst open and a person in a black body suit with a black balaclava covering their face entered, stumbling. Their hands were tied behind their back. It wasn't Penny, of that Sarah was sure; the figure was too tall for that to be true.

"I found a stray, sniffing the grounds," Penny said as she walked in.

Sarah narrowed her eyes slightly as she glanced once more at the captive Penny had brought along. Something seemed familiar about the eyes. On a whim, Sarah stepped forward and ripped the balaclava away.

"Aw, crap," Chuck said.

"Nice to see you too, Chuckles."

"What the hell are you doing here, Carina?"

Carina shrugged, hands still tied behind her back. "Following a lead."

"Did she do that to you, Slugger," Wyatt asked Penny.

"I'm fine, daddy. She got in a few lucky punches."

Carina looked at Sarah in surprise. "Daddy? What is this, day care center? Bring your daughter to work day?"

* * *

The more Carina was telling them, the more worried it made Chuck. Something was wrong. Why was Carina, a DEA agent, sent to investigate a tech company? Why would the DEA even be interested in that? Just like years ago, when he first met Carina Miller, she was once again doing a mission that didn't appear to have anything to do with the DEA's primary focus. "So, what are you really after?" He hadn't intended to say it out loud, but he had.

"Excuse me?"

Well, he'd ventured down the rabbit hole, might as well see it all the way through. "First time I met you, you got us involved in stealing a diamond that _you_ wanted. I find it hard to believe the DEA would've been interested in that. Now you're looking into a tech company, not the DEA's cup of tea. So either you want to steal something or... or... you're not actually DEA?" He could see it in her eyes. The moment he - on a whim - declared her as not being a DEA agent, she seemed annoyed to be caught. He had his answer.

"I could show you my badge, or my paycheck?"

"Sure you could. Could we call the DEA and check what your current mission is?"

"Yes," Carina replied, then smiled a little. "But they don't know me."

Sarah sat forward, leaning her arms on the large table. "What agency are you with?"

"Can't tell you that, Blondie. Let's just say the agency I really work for is in the quality control business."

Sarah frowned. "You were spying on us that first year." It wasn't a question, just a statement.

"Yes. I was sent to assess how trustworthy your civilian asset was, as well as ascertain how well you and Casey worked together."

"And two years later?"

Carina shrugged. "Real mission, with a bit of reevaluation mixed in. The dynamics of the team had changed."

"And now," Chuck asked. "We're not officially government agents anymore."

Carina rolled her eyes. "It's not always about you, Chuckles." She sighed. "Alright, here's the deal. Our agency has been tracking someone who faked his own death."

"Langston Graham," Chuck said, grinning at the surprised look on Carina's face. "We may not be CIA anymore, doesn't mean we don't know how to do our jobs."

Carina smiled. "Apparently. Yes, former director Graham is my target." She stopped and glanced around the room, then leaned forwards to Sarah and Chuck. "He's trying to build his own Intersect," she whispered, clearly attempting to not divulge that particular piece of information.

"They all know about the Intersect," Sarah told her. "I'm surprised _you_ know."

Carina shrugged. "There's very little our agency doesn't know. Since I was sent to see if the first Human Intersect was to be trusted in a civilian, there was no other course of action than to give me every detail about it." She looked at Sarah. "But I don't quite understand why these people needed to know."

* * *

Penny didn't like Carina. Simple as that. The woman worked for an American spy agency spying on other American spy agencies; that alone reminded her once again why she had wanted out of the CIA. Every secret had its own set of secrets attached to it, it seemed. And nobody seemed to care about the people involved, whether they were innocent civilians - like Chuck - or their own agents.

On top of that, Alex had told her how this Carina person had tried to drive a wedge between her and Morgan by making it look like Morgan and Carina were doing it. Penny was _so_ going to tell Alex how she'd kicked Carina's ass; Alex was more than likely going to enjoy hearing that.

No, Penny didn't like Carina one bit. The woman was arrogant, pushy and flirty; Penny had not missed how Carina had tried to come on to her dad, which he had quickly put a stop to. But it took her mom cocking her gun before Carina decided to let it go. And now she had the audacity to question the decision to tell everyone about the Intersect program.

"Who came up with that brain-haired idea?"

Penny glanced to the side where Ellie Woodcomb-Bartowski was seated. John had mentioned on a few occasions Chuck's sister scared even him, and Penny could see in Ellie's eyes the anger was boiling, and from the looks of it, it had been heating up for a while now. Penny was going to enjoy this.

"I decided to inform them," Ellie said, sounding very calm and sweet. If Penny hadn't seen the woman's eyes earlier, she could not tell Ellie was seething. "As CIA analyst and head of the Intersect project research team, I had the clearance to inform whichever field agents needed to retrieve a stolen piece of equipment."

"You'll get it back after we capture former director Graham."

"No, you're going to give it back immediately," Ellie said, leaning forward slightly. "I don't give a damn about your status, your agency or capturing a former, corrupt CIA director. I'm not going to sit by idly as the corrupted Intersect in my _sister_ 's head is destroying her brain. So, get off your fucking high horse, gives us the part and _maybe_ we decide to help you _after_ Sarah has been treated! If you don't, I'm going to be very unpleasant, and you don't want that, believe me."

Penny believed every word; even though she knew Ellie only for a short time, she could just tell that getting her angry would be very unpleasant for the one on the receiving end. Just now, Ellie looked so much like her mother, even the toughest of spies would be fighting the urge to not take a step back.

"Blondie, I thought the Intersect was removed from your brain?"

Sarah just shook her head. "Only suppressed, it seems."

"And it's destroying her brain," Ellie interjected, almost entirely back to her normal empathic self. "We need that component back so I can help her."

"I don't have it anymore, but I do know where it is. I'm going to need some help retrieving it, though."

* * *

"Carina, wait," Sarah called to probably the only spy friend she had. "Why did they send you to test us? They must have known we were friends."

"Yes, that's exactly why. Because of our friendship, they figured at least you would be less guarded so I could assess you and the team better."

"Your superiors weren't worried about you protecting me and not tell them if we hadn't been professional?"

Carina shook her head. "They didn't need to. Standard debrief involves several methods of getting nothing but the truth out of me. I couldn't hide or lie about anything."

Sarah nodded. "I see. Well, then I'm just glad I hadn't fallen for Chuck yet." She frowned when Carina started laughing.

"Girl, you were _so_ infatuated with him, I was surprised you didn't drag him into the nearest room and go at it!"

"But, I wasn't... I mean, I was careful to..."

Carina put her hand on Sarah's shoulder. "You were, and honestly, if I hadn't known you that well, I may not have put two and two together."

Sarah smiled wryly. "I suppose another reason why they sent you. How did you hide this from your superiors?"

"I didn't even try to hide it," Carina said. "The CIA's protocol regarding handling of assets is ridiculous. You already know about Chuck's parents, and even they were not the first spy slash handler couple to meet that way. The CIA seems to forget their employees are people, and they completely ignore the effectiveness of a CIA handler having deep feelings for the one they are supposed to protect. So, yes, my superiors were aware of your love for him and vice versa. They just didn't put that in the report that was sent back to Graham and Beckman."

"They ordered it?"

Carina nodded. "Well, Graham did. Since Casey was NSA, my superiors thought it prudent to send a copy to Beckman."

"And the second time?"

A small shrug. "Standard procedure is to reevaluate teams that have been operational for two years, especially if the dynamics have changed. The report sent to Beckman was short, since there wasn't much to tell." She grinned. "She did send us a response, claiming that we had left out something very obvious, but she admitted it didn't have a negative impact on the team's effectiveness."

Sarah was shocked. "She knew?"

"That's our guess. She didn't mention what it was, but my superiors were quite certain that that's what the General meant. Listen, Blondie. I have several more things that I would like to tell you, but right now I don't want to risk the wrath of Chuck's sister, so I better go and retrieve that component."

"I could come with you?"

"No! We already agreed it would be best to not have so many people Graham knows. Frankly, if I didn't need to be there, I'd sit this one out as well."

"Penny doesn't trust you, I think."

"Probably not, but she and her parents are good at what they do and, more importantly, Graham doesn't know them at all. I trust all three of them to do their job."

* * *

Penny glanced back as she and her mom drove off. "Are you sure daddy will be fine?"

"Honey, your father and I have been doing this since before you were born. Have a little more faith in us, okay?"

"Besides, nobody is going to be looking this far out," Carina said from the backseat.

Penny sighed. Why did she have to be here, anyway? "But he has no backup. What if someone does spot him?"

"He'd still have quite a head start," Susan replied. "Agent Miller," she said, glancing briefly in the rear view mirror. "How many hostiles do you expect to be there?"

Penny frowned at the sudden change of subject. It was as if her mom just didn't care about daddy's well-being. As she glanced at her mother, she suddenly understood: her mom didn't like leaving her father without backup any more than Penny did. Her mom just didn't want to talk about it, afraid it might make her make mistakes during their mission. Penny shifted her full attention to Carina as she went over what she expected they'd run into.

They drove for a few more minutes to the predetermined spot where they would leave the road. It was still a bit away from the warehouse, but likely as close as they could get by car without being stopped.

"Here goes nothing," her mom said as she killed the lights but kept driving. The dark would conceal them from prying eyes, of which Penny was sure a lot were following their every move. They'd know there was something going on, but they would have a hard time finding them.

Her mom then pressed a button and suddenly all Penny could hear was their breathing and the shifting and bouncing of whatever was in the back of the car. Her mom expertly drove the car through the trees in the dark; Penny could hardly see the trees until they passed close by on her side of the car. "Damn," she heard Carina softly utter in amazement and Penny grinned proudly.

Another minute passed by until her mom came to a full stop. "Well, kids, this seems like a good parking spot."

Penny shook her head as she stepped out of the car. She was finding a whole different side to her mom, to both her parents really, but her mom's puns and funny remarks were so _lame_. Penny glanced around the immediate area, her tranq gun at the ready.

"I see you have the kids' version of this," Carina said in a whisper, slightly lifting her own sidearm.

Penny shrugged. "It's effective and far less likely I kill a suspect before he can be interrogated."

"I suggest you two use your energy to get to the main building. It's still eight hundred feet..."

"Seven ninety," Penny and Carina both replied, then grinned at each other.

"... and we will have several guards to deal with," Susan finished as if neither woman had spoken. "Move out."

Penny glanced at Carina and gave a shrug. "You heard my mom." She followed her mother, Carina moving in beside her. After about a hundred and fifty feet, Penny spotted a sniper up in the trees. By the angle she figured her mom was the sniper's target. The sniper couldn't get a shot and her mom had stopped, apparently having noticed the sniper as well. Penny lifted her tranq gun and fired a round. She had no idea if the tranq dart would travel that far, but was pleasantly surprised then the dart penetrated the sniper's neck and the man fell to the ground.

"Thank you," her mom said and moved on.

* * *

Mother and daughter seemed to enjoy bantering back and forth, though Carina had strong suspicion it was primarily to keep their minds off of the man currently by himself keeping an eye out for trouble. She had already witnessed the effectiveness of an emotional bond, but it did have its downside. Sure, all three family members were trained field agents, all very competent, but their relationship also caused that sliver of fear something might happen to the other ones.

Yes, agents that were teamed up generally guarded each other, made sure their partners were okay, but when your partner is someone you have deep-rooted feelings for, it can be an issue. Even trained to compartmentalize everything, you needed to distract yourself from thinking too much about the danger your partner could be in or you yourself would end up dead.

Carina had read up everything about the family, courtesy of her boss, and the mom and dad had an impressive record of service. They were the core of the local sub station, many agents assigned to the team usually requesting transfers after only a few months. Not because they were bored, but because the two elder agents had a tendency to come up with unorthodox tactics. A few agents had explicitly mentioned the plans were 'plain crazy,' but most had been more diplomatic and claimed the way the team functioned was incompatible with their personal strengths.

But none of their plans had ever failed. An occasional improvisation had been required, but it never had been a failure, or even lead to the loss of an agent. Quite impressive for a duo that had been in service for a little over twenty five years.

Penny was a bit of mystery. The agent development program was simply not mentioned, except on very rare occasions. As far as Carina knew, only a handful of adult field agents had actually originated from the program, many of the young agents deciding it wasn't what they wanted from life. Even fewer had completed one or more missions before they were allowed into the CIA pool. Names had never been mentioned anywhere, and Carina couldn't be sure if Penny had ever completed a mission during her ADP stint. Nonetheless, the younger woman had beaten her earlier and Carina guessed her to be as good as her and Sarah.

Carina stopped at the raised hand of both mother and daughter, almost at the same time. Penny signaled she'd spotted a tripwire, her mother signaled two sentries. Carina looked in the indicated direction and noticed both sentries, gauging the distance. Wouldn't be easy to get to them undetected, and it wasn't unlikely there were more tripwires around, so they'd have to be careful before approaching these two. She glanced at Susan who made a few hand signals she couldn't decipher, before she signaled Penny and her to wait. Seconds later one guard suddenly dropped, followed a second later by the other one. Carina frowned. No way. Wyatt was almost half a mile away.

"Did daddy do that," Penny asked in a whisper.

Susan grinned. "He's one of only four who can make a shot like that." She immediately became serious again. "Keep your eyes peeled, there's bound to be more tripwires and baddies."

* * *

Susan kept one eye on her daughter as the three of them made their way to the building. She couldn't help it, Penny had her training, but she'd also been out of the spy game for a decade, which worried Susan a bit. Penny had been very good, otherwise she wouldn't have been sent on missions, and from what Susan had seen of her little girl in action, she didn't appear to have forgotten much of it. Nonetheless, Susan was worried and looking out for Penny. On some level, she wished Penny hadn't decided to go back to the spy business, even if it was the private sector.

It was right at that thought that Susan cursed herself for not paying close enough attention to where she herself was going. She stopped immediately, but knew it was too late; she'd just triggered an alarm as her ankle pushed against the thin piece of wire she'd seen seconds earlier. Big lights came on, flooding the area in brightness, the three of them exposed in the center of the lit up area.

They turned around to make a hasty retreat, but were confronted by a dozen weapons trained on them. Susan realized that it was no use to signal Wyatt to take them out; it would take him too long to target each of them and the three of them would be dead long before he'd get the fourth target. She turned back to the building as the door opened.

"Agent Miller," Langston Graham greeted the tall brunette standing between her and Penny. "This is most unfortunate, especially considering your position within the intelligence branch."

Of course this traitor knew Carina was not just a DEA agent; he'd been the one to order the test on Penny's new boss.

He gestured to the door. "If you ladies don't mind, I feel rather exposed here. Would you please join me inside?"

Despite the seemingly friendly request, there was no doubt they were not given a choice here. Susan glanced to the west and gave a nod.

"They have someone to the west," Langston immediately reported over his radio. "Remember, it's more than likely this man can shoot his target from half a mile away."

Good, Wyatt would have plenty of time getting away, Susan realized with a satisfaction she was careful not to show on her face. Instead, she did her best to look genuinely worried about her husband.

* * *

"And how long have you been a spy for the CIA?"

Penny decided to give an honest answer. "Just a few months." Technically completely true, if somewhat misleading.

He hummed. "When I was Director, I preferred to recruit them at a younger age."

Penny arched an eyebrow. "You calling me old?"

"Little girl, I've recruited agents as young as sixteen, oversaw their training. I've given the agency the best agents."

"Sixteen?"

"Oh yes. Of course, the agency was not informed of their actual age. They would never have approved of them being induced that young, at least not in the adult agent training programs."

This man was sick, Penny suddenly realized. "All girls, I suppose?"

"Oh, I never touched them. Strictly observation. And writing down names of the male agents who were foolish enough to actually 'help' these girls with seduction training."

This must be the creep Ronnica had once told her about. Only one way to find out for sure. "Yeah, Ronica told me about you."

He actually stepped back half a pace, blinking. "Agent Miles? You were in the agent development program, then."

She smiled sweetly. "Yep. Proud to say, one of the best in my age group. Ronica will be very pleased when she learns you are in fact not dead and that I beat the crap out of you."

He struck her hard on the side of her shoulder, but Penny had expected it and moved just enough with the strike that it didn't do much damage. She dropped down to one knee, as if the strike had had a much greater effect than it really had, then immediately drove her fist into his groin.

Dismissing Langston for the moment, Penny turned to the man on her left and, still being on one knee, once again went for the most painful spot on the male body. Behind her she knew Carina and her mom had also swung into action, and Penny turned back to Langston Graham, still doubled over in pain. "You really are one sick bastard, aren't you?" She kicked him hard in the ribs, hopefully cracking one or two of them. With a roundhouse kick she took out the man she'd struck earlier, who had recovered quite a bit faster than his boss.

Without pausing she completed the three-sixty to face Langston Graham again. "Using young girls to entrap male agents so you could control them." She drove her fist into his cheek. "Making videos of everything." Her fist connected to his nose. "Even when there were no male agents in their barracks." Her knee connected once more with his groin. "And when someone catches you, you have them reassigned to the agent development program." Her fist hit him across his jaw. "Threatening her with termination if she told anyone." Her foot landed square on his nut sack. "You sick, sick, bastard!" She kicked him hard on the temple though he might not have felt that anymore.

Penny looked down at him in disgust, her anger not yet spent. She dropped down on top of him and swung her fist at his face, but found it restrained by her mother before her fist connected.

"He's down, sweetheart. You don't want to take it too far."

Penny knew her mother was right; it would get her in a boatload of trouble, but she would accept that. "Mom, this sicko ended the career of a very good agent, my mentor! Only because she found out what he'd been doing for years!"

"Sweetheart, I know it's sick, but think of it this way: we caught him and he will be put in a very dark, deep hole and never see the light of day again. Remember, he's wanted for more than being a pervert."

Penny exhaled. Her mom was right. It'd be much more satisfactory knowing he'd be rotting in hell. "Fine." She retrieved her phone and snapped a few pictures of the former CIA director. "Ronica is going to love these, though."

* * *

 **A/N2: I'll admit this chapter ended quite differently from what I had in mind. But, Langston Graham is defeated, all that's left to do is grab the component, fix Sarah and get back to Burbank / Pasadena. How hard could that be? We'll see, hopefully much sooner than a year from now.**


End file.
